Michael Ruse

University of Florida

Michael Ruse is the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy and the Director of the History and Philosophy of Science Program at the University of Florida. Ruse has written numerous books including: The Darwinian Revolution; The Philosophy of Biology Today; Sociobiology: Sense or Nonsense?; and Is science sexist? And Other Problems in the Biomedical Sciences. Ruse specializes in the relationship between science and religion emphasizing the creation vs. evolution controversy and the problem of defining the boundaries of science. He frequently writes for publications such as The Guardian and The Huffington Post. Ruse describes himself as an agnostic, claiming that both “new atheism” and “humanism” fail to represent his views.

Ruse formerly taught at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, for thirty-five years. He was a key witness in the 1981 trial of McLean v. Arkansas, which determined whether the Arkansas school system had the right to mandate the teaching of “creation science.” In 1986, he was elected as a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Canada and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1990, Ruse received honorary doctorates from the University of Bergen, McMaster University, and the University of New Brunswick.